Rams get through OT duel with Herkimer

Having gone through so much, and having so much on the line Saturday in the steamy Carrier Dome, the Jamesville-DeWitt football team was not interested in staying any longer.

So, after scoring at the end of the first overtime of last Saturday’s game against Herkimer, the Red Rams, down by a point to the Magicians, decided to end the game right there.

Joe Daddario, the Red Rams’ junior quarterback, took it from there, and when he ran in the end zone, J-D had a 34-33 victory to celebrate — and a chance to breathe again.

Head coach Dennis Schahczenski’s gamble was merely the final act in a day-long drama where the Rams and Herkimer kept trading the lead, almost assuring that it would have a first-rate climax.

Despite its Class C status, Herkimer had good credentials, as it had gone 6-3 a year ago and had shut out long-time power Dolgeville 19-0 in its opener. The Magicians were not in the least bit intimidated by the Dome setting — or by J-D’s Class A status, either.

As such, the Red Rams found itself down 14-6 after one quarter. Herkimer quarterback Arthur Zhusma put his team on the board with a one-yard touchdown run, then threw a two-yard scoring pass to John Crandall. In between, Daddario had gone four yards for a TD to put J-D on the board.

Daddario struck through the air in the second quarter, finding Lamar Kearse for a 43-yard TD strike. Despite that, Herkimer bowled into halftime still in a 21-13 lead.

Now it was J-D’s turn to charge. In the fourth quarter, Daddario’s one-yard TD sneak, combined with Lonza Williams going in for two points, tied the game 21-21, and Williams returned later to go 30 yards for six more points. Williams finished with 15 carries for 102 yards.

Herkimer now made the comeback, Zhushma hitting John Bellinger on a 14-yard strike. Fortunately for the Rams, the extra point was missed, keeping it 26-26 as the teams ventured toward overtime.

During OT, each team gets to start at the opponent’s 20-yard line and gets an extra timeout. J-D won the toss and, like most others in this situation, chose to go on defense first.

However, J-D’s defense could not keep Zhushma from marching the Rams to the five-yard-line, from where he threw a scoring pass to Mark Mula. Zhusma also made the extra point, putting Herkimer up 33-26.

Now it was J-D’s turn. Smartly, Daddario kept it on the ground and, from the 10-yard line, raced into the end zone, putting Schahczenski on the spot.

Ultimately, the Rams decided to keep the ball in Daddario’s hands, and the junior quarterback took off for the end zone, making it to give the Rams a dramatic victory.

Overall, Daddario had difficulty with his accuracy against Herkimer’s pass defense, but still went eight-for-23 for 186 yards, and added 79 yards on the ground. On the defensive side, Jared Nies (13 tackles) and Rob Neely (nine tackle) stood out.

J-D heads back to league play Friday with a game at Fowler that starts at 4 p.m. The Falcons are 1-1, coming off an 18-13 win over Chittenango where it needed Frankie Dwyer’s last-second, 75-yard touchdown pass to Ron Pugh to pull it out.